GW2: Class Balance Complaints

While Guild Wars 2 is still by far one of the best MMOs I have ever played, it’s starting to wear on me in some places. Specifically in the money and class balance places. I’ve already talked about the money part elsewhere, ad nauseum. Class balance is why I quit World of Warcraft, and the main reason why I won’t go back. In World of Warcraft it was frost mages. In Guild Wars 2, it’s Thieves and Mesmers.

Culling also ruins the experience, but it’s a non-issue soon.

The following is some personal ranting. Feel free to skip it. My experiences are mostly from World versus World, so keep that perspective in mind.

Now You See Them, Now You’re Dead

Thieves were the only other class that interested me. I played both a Thief and Warrior early on, and decided to go with the Warrior because the Volley sound effect is so freaking awesome. As a Thief, the Unload sound effect is almost as cool. Almost. Pistols, unfortunately, aren’t the flavor of the month (fotm). There are two builds, I think, that I have problems with. I don’t play Thieves, so I don’t know what they’re called.

The first I believe is a dagger build. It lets you vanish continually, and disappear into thin air on a whim. It’s this hit-and-run build that lets them strike, disappear, and strike, and disappear, and rinse, and repeat. You could be fighting them three versus one and still the Thief would down you and run away unscathed. There is absolutely no way that a Thief, or any profession, should be able to take someone down with the pressure of three enemy players dpsing down on them.

The second build I have started to see more and more of lately. I’ll start taking damage, then the thief appears, then two or three hits later i’m down. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I don’t know what they’re doing, exactly, but it’s insanely overpowered when you can’t even see what’s hitting you. I may as well be stun locked to death. I’m not sure if it’s working as intended, but it’s working to piss me the $@%# off.

Will The Real Mesmer Please Stand Still

Mesmers are another example of overpowered. First they make clones, then they make phantasms, then all four try to kill you. When you mark the actual mesmer with a target, they can slip out of the target icon, as well as your target sights. To top it all off, because being untargettable isn’t enough, they can stealth. I’ve had mesmers attack me and two other players, and end up killing me before running off. Granted it took a little while, but we’re back to the whole ‘no class should be able to down someone with pressure from three enemy players on them’ bit. And should more of your friendlies show up, there is no way to catch a mesmer escaping. Once again, a class that can take on three others needs some fine tuning. I don’t know anything about mesmers, and they don’t interest me in the slightest.

My Solution To Thieves And Mesmers

I’ve thought about leveling a thief. I have one at level 11 now, but i’d want to run double pistols. I don’t think that’s the blow-up-your-enemy-in-three-easy-steps build though. I also don’t like running the same fotm build that everyone else is running. Warriors have the fotm Greatsword build, and while it may actually be fun, it’s melee. I want to run a ranged build.

I’m also eagerly awaiting the new leaderboards. The sPvP seems to be very well balanced, so maybe I can take my angst out on Mesmers in there. I’m not asking to be more powerful against Mesmers, Thieves, or any other class. I’m just asking to at least have a chance to do something. If I can’t see it, or target it, how can I do anything to it? Maybe nerf their damage while in stealth, and when coming out of stealth. Reduce movement speed, crowd control, and/or healing. Being able to do nothing against an opponent is unacceptable, and as frustrating as it gets. For now, i’ll think about leveling up my Thief. I’m not really sure what to do about Mesmers yet. Maybe a Theif will do better against them.

How do you fare against thieves and mesmers? Which classes give you the most trouble?

2 Responses

As you know, my main in GW2 is a mesmer. I frequently find myself doing as close to tanking as you can get in game for the very reasons you stated above. Give me a really good water ele so I don’t have to use my utility slots on condition removal and the like, and I’m often last one standing in a boss fight. In pve I’d say we’re just about right, power-wise, to fill that role.

But I agree it’s a little OP in WvW (I haven’t done any spvp so I can’t say one on one beyond random wvw encounters, but I can usually at least get away from groups, and I’m not exactly the most skilled pvper). Most people focus on the mass invis and the portals as making the class overpowered but I don’t even use either of those — other powers I use more often include being able to kill mobs with their own projectiles by putting a shield around them, and being able to create a chain of clones/phantasms in quick succession to the point where the animation of the shatter of the first one hasn’t entirely faded before I’ve got 9th or 10th running in (how I can do that is becoming a topic of discussion during dungeon runs, it happens often enough).

One small tweak that would balance it out is to put an internal cooldown on clones and phantasms, or if there already is one, to increase it. Not by much, or we’d cease to be half so useful in dungeons, but just a little would go a long way to making us more vulnerable to other players.

My complaints with Mesmers come solely from WvW. I can’t recall any sPvP matches where I even fought a Mesmer, but I don’t sPvP a whole lot right now. In PvE they may be perfectly balanced. I wouldn’t want them needed in a way detrimental to the other game content. I’m all for nerfing in tiny increments too. Being underpowered is no fun.

The portal bombs won’t be as big an issue once culling goes away. But those abilities take group coordination. I’m OK with that. Sans the culling of course. Abusing the culling mechanic is lame, and a show of poor sportsmanship. Win because you’re better, not because you know how to exploit coding limitations.